BUSINESS CASE STUDIES

On her return to Manly from years living in the U.S, ocean swimmer Jude Furniss got straight back in the water. What she found there inspired two things: a start up business and an anti-plastic crusade.

Tree of Life store manager Ruth Williams says she and her co workers enjoy working for a company with values they share. Tree of Life is 100% single-use plastic bag free, offering customers beautiful brown paper bags.

Fashion, homewares and art boutique Nelli & Mo is 100% single-use plastic bag free. The plastic free journey began with Manly Eco-bags, says owner Jennifer Wynne. “I really liked the idea of having our logo amongst other like minded businesses, and being part of something positive for the environment”.

Tabea Kleine, Managing Director at Buddha Wear, is eagerly awaiting the delivery of cotton eco bags for the store, to replace the current stop-gap paper option. “I am so glad that we are moving on to the best bag for the environment. Hopefully we can get people to reuse them, bring them back in, which would be cool to see.”

When Tom Schoeb arrived in Manly he was struck not by our beautiful environment, but by our backward approach to protecting it. “I was shocked when I came here that you still have single-use plastic bags. In Austria, where I’m from, we are trying to ban even recycled plastic bags. I can’t even remember single-use plastic bags from when I was a kid, we never had them.”

A waste minimisation approach is hard wired into the DNA of the Co-Op, which was set up 20 years ago with an EPA grant for just this purpose. And it’s not only about plastic and plastic bags - it’s about finding ways to shop with absolutely minimal packaging across the board.

Imagine your typical busy butcher’s shop. Beautiful hanging salamis, display cases full of butterflied chickens - and customers leaving with around 100 plastic bags an hour. Every hour, every day. While she loved her business, the environmental impact really began to bug The Butcher & The Chef’s Kristy Barbara.